Frozen in Time
By Harry Patrick
I can't believe it's been 50 years this year that I was a sophomore at Berea College. It was also the year that the world as we knew it changed forever.
I was working in the basement of the college library, checking out "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" when my supervisor ran into the room with her transistor radio in her hand, saying "Kennedy's been shot, Kennedy's been shot"!
I was working in the basement of the college library, checking out "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" when my supervisor ran into the room with her transistor radio in her hand, saying "Kennedy's been shot, Kennedy's been shot"!
Although the JFK assassination has been the subject of thousands of ideas about conspiracies, etc., it can't change the fact that JFK will always be that age, never growing older and Jackie will always be that age, never growing older. Even though Jackie was not killed that day, she went on with her life which has been well documented, but to me, she will always be the First Lady dressed in pink that day in Dallas, on November 22, 1963, about 1:00 p.m.
Footnote about Jackie = she died the same day a female relative of mine was murdered, shot by a man she thought was a friend.
Footnote about Jackie = she died the same day a female relative of mine was murdered, shot by a man she thought was a friend.
JFK and Jackie are frozen in time and at times I feel like I am, too. Even though I am now 68, almost 69 years old, my mind still feels young, I love the same things I did when I was younger, even though lately I have not been as interested in the new TV shows as I used to be.
I used to couldn't wait until the new season to see my favorite shows and Sunday night is one of my favorites, but this season, I could tell something was "off", different, I didn't feel the same enthusiasm and anticipation as I have in other years. Is it just a lack of interest or is it something else?
My motivation for doing anything productive has gone right out the window, no desire to dig in and do something, from beginning to end, the desire is just not there.
Another Sunday coming to an end, November 10, 2013. My neighbor decided to mow his huge yard for several hours today, disrupting the quiet that the country at times provides for you. Sometimes, not so quiet.
The country life is not for a lot of people and although I enjoy certain aspects of the isolation and the quietness, I still would love to live back in town. It would be easier on my psyche, I believe.
I'm thinking about going back to Pathways because my bi-polar disorder, or something, is causing me to "lose my cool" more than I should lately.
Or is just my opinions coming through verbally, without a filter? According to a recent Reader's Digest article, it is normal to think of what you would say if you wanted to, say someone cut in line and you wanted to say something but you just thought it, you didn't say it out loud. Well, here lately, I have been saying my thoughts out loud, no filter, sometimes with negative consequences. I didn't feel it was negative while I was saying it, but since the people around me don't know my mental history, they, of course, didn't understand where my outburst came from, even though, from their whispers in the crowd, they wanted to say something.
What I did and said next is frozen in time, I can't get that five minutes back in my life, so the words are out there, time-stamped on the wind.
The cashier at a certain store was having trouble understanding a customer's request that the two items she had lain on the counter were "buy one, get one free". She iterated this to the female cashier several times, but the girl still rung up the sale and charged her for two items.
All Hell broke loose because the girl started yelling, at the top of her lungs, for her manager. She yelled over and over and over and then the people in line behind me started to yell for him also. She did not know how to undo the problem.
While she was waiting on the manager, she struck up a conversation with two males she apparently knew. They stood in front of me and started talking to her, leaning on the counter while they talked. They both were young black males, wearing khaki shorts with their white briefs on display for everyone to see. The back waistband of their khakis were down below the leg holes of their briefs, their asses hanging out. The briefs were of very thin material and you could see their ass and their ass crack.
I found this very offensive and asked them if they would pull up their shorts because I did not enjoy looking at their asses on display. They ignored me, a verbal argument ensued between me, them, the cashier and the woman in front of me.
Without going into detail about what all was said and I was already frustrated and angry about waiting for the manager to clear the cashier's mistake, the young men refused to pull up their shorts, but left the store, then the lady in front of me decided to put her two cents' worth in and started telling me how rude I was to them.
I snapped, no other word for it and I let the cashier, the manager and the lady in front of me have it = let's just say "I tore them all a new one".
By the time I finally was checked out and made it to my car, I was shaking all over. I don't like confrontations, but I was so tired of people just doing what they damn well please and nobody saying anything. The people in line started complimenting the cashier for "doing such a good job" and said people should be allowed to wear what they wanted to wear in public.
Excuse me, I don't think so!! No . . . no!!!
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be "frozen in time" but frozen at a good time, not like the one I encountered recently at that particular store.
So much for filters!!
Another Sunday coming to an end, November 10, 2013. My neighbor decided to mow his huge yard for several hours today, disrupting the quiet that the country at times provides for you. Sometimes, not so quiet.
The country life is not for a lot of people and although I enjoy certain aspects of the isolation and the quietness, I still would love to live back in town. It would be easier on my psyche, I believe.
I'm thinking about going back to Pathways because my bi-polar disorder, or something, is causing me to "lose my cool" more than I should lately.
Or is just my opinions coming through verbally, without a filter? According to a recent Reader's Digest article, it is normal to think of what you would say if you wanted to, say someone cut in line and you wanted to say something but you just thought it, you didn't say it out loud. Well, here lately, I have been saying my thoughts out loud, no filter, sometimes with negative consequences. I didn't feel it was negative while I was saying it, but since the people around me don't know my mental history, they, of course, didn't understand where my outburst came from, even though, from their whispers in the crowd, they wanted to say something.
What I did and said next is frozen in time, I can't get that five minutes back in my life, so the words are out there, time-stamped on the wind.
The cashier at a certain store was having trouble understanding a customer's request that the two items she had lain on the counter were "buy one, get one free". She iterated this to the female cashier several times, but the girl still rung up the sale and charged her for two items.
All Hell broke loose because the girl started yelling, at the top of her lungs, for her manager. She yelled over and over and over and then the people in line behind me started to yell for him also. She did not know how to undo the problem.
While she was waiting on the manager, she struck up a conversation with two males she apparently knew. They stood in front of me and started talking to her, leaning on the counter while they talked. They both were young black males, wearing khaki shorts with their white briefs on display for everyone to see. The back waistband of their khakis were down below the leg holes of their briefs, their asses hanging out. The briefs were of very thin material and you could see their ass and their ass crack.
I found this very offensive and asked them if they would pull up their shorts because I did not enjoy looking at their asses on display. They ignored me, a verbal argument ensued between me, them, the cashier and the woman in front of me.
Without going into detail about what all was said and I was already frustrated and angry about waiting for the manager to clear the cashier's mistake, the young men refused to pull up their shorts, but left the store, then the lady in front of me decided to put her two cents' worth in and started telling me how rude I was to them.
I snapped, no other word for it and I let the cashier, the manager and the lady in front of me have it = let's just say "I tore them all a new one".
By the time I finally was checked out and made it to my car, I was shaking all over. I don't like confrontations, but I was so tired of people just doing what they damn well please and nobody saying anything. The people in line started complimenting the cashier for "doing such a good job" and said people should be allowed to wear what they wanted to wear in public.
Excuse me, I don't think so!! No . . . no!!!
Maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be "frozen in time" but frozen at a good time, not like the one I encountered recently at that particular store.
So much for filters!!
